Black carved Bowl with Polished Interior [SOLD]

It has been difficult to find biographical information on Pablita in relation to which Tafoya family she was from.  All the references consulted have information about her marriage and children but nothing about her previous life. We know her maiden name was Tafoya but can not determine which Tafoya family she was from.

Pablita Tafoya Chavarria was born in 1914 at Santa Clara Pueblo. She started making carved blackware, black-on-black jars, bowls, vases, wedding vases, plates, and miniatures in 1930. Her favorite designs were Avanyu, hummingbirds, flowers, and clouds. She passed away in 1979.

Pablita married Jose M. Chavarria and they had eleven children: Clara Shije, Reycita Naranjo, Thomas Chavarria, Elizabeth Naranjo, Florence Browning, Mary Singer, Mary Agnes Carlisle, Loretto Chavarria, Joe M. Chavarria, Mildred Chavarria, and José N. Chavarria. Clara, Reycita, Elizabeth, Florence, and Mary were active potters through the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

Pablita was represented in the 1979 exhibition One Space - Three Visions, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, N.M.  and in the exhibition Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art, 1965-1985, The American Federation of Arts, New York.

Pablita expressed her desire to make the finest vessel by taking the extra step of polishing the interior of the bowl.  It is that care which sets her work above that of many other potters. She also was meticulous in carving away the clay surrounding the Avanyu design.  Her carving was consistent in thickness and smoothly finished. Her Avanyu has an expression of happiness, achieved by her placement of the eye and mouth incisions.

The bowl is signed Pablita Santa Clara Pueblo.

Condition: this Black carved Bowl with Polished Interior is in very good condition

Provenance: from a gentleman from New Mexico

Reference and Recommended Reading:  Pueblo Indian Pottery 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.  Artist photo courtesy of Gregory Schaaf.